Summer Squash Soup

I always feel a bit strange making soup during the heat of summer but all the amazing produce calls for a batch or two. This particular squash soup first made an appearance after a summer party at the CSA where someone had brought a similar soup. It’s a flexible soup whereas the potatoes and/or carrot can be left out if you don’t have them. The ingredient list is long but a good chunk of it are spices you most likely already have on hand.

Summer Squash Soup

Description

This summer squash soup is an easy and beautiful way to use up an abundance of summer squash.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup minced yellow onion

2 cups finely diced yellow summer squash

1 cup peeled and diced yukon gold potato

1/4 cup diced carrot

1 clove garlic minced

3/4 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika plus extra for topping

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch cayenne pepper optional

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1/4 cup coconut milk plus extra for topping

Salt to taste

Cilantro for topping

Instructions

Heat a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the olive oil followed by the onions. Cook until the onions are fragrant and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the squash, potato, and carrot. Continue to cook for until the squash begins to soften, 5 minutes or so. Stir in the garlic, cook for a minute then add in all the spices, cooking for another minute more.

Add the wine, scrapping up any pieces stuck to the bottom. Allow some of the wine to cook out then measure in the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and let cook until the potatoes are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Puree the soup using a blender or an immersion blender. Add in the coconut milk and continue to heat the soup until hot. Taste and add salt as needed (usually depends on how salty the broth is). Divide into two bowls and top with a drizzle of coconut milk, sprinkle of paprika, and cilantro.

Notes

Recipe Notes

Tips & Tricks: Don’t have all the spices listed in the ingredients? Use a few teaspoons of curry powder instead!

Nutrition

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Summer Squash Soup

variations

I’m a big advocate that soup really doesn’t need a recipe because you can practically throw anything in a pot, puree it, and come out with something delicious. The key to this summer squash soup are the spices. Beyond that, you can really mix and match based on what’s at the market or what you already have on hand.

Legumes: I don’t do this as often as I used to but you can swap out the potatoes for chickpeas, using the chickpeas as a thickener and an added protein. You can also cook about 1/2 cup red lentils with the broth and puree in the soup.

Curry Powder: Missing a few spices or don’t feel like measuring everything out? A tablespoon or so of good curry powder can be used. Occasionally I’ll swing this soup another spice direction and use chipotle powder with a bit of cumin and coriander.

Grains: To make a complete meal, serve over a cooked grain such as rice, sorghum, or millet (any will keep this recipe gluten-free).

It’s the time of year when gardens and markets are overflowing with zucchini and summer squash. This tends to correlate with an abundance of squash recipes, which is where this summer squash soup comes in to the rotation. If you find yourself with quite a few squash, a few other recipes to make:

When I started making this soup, I was planning on using heavy cream until I realized I still had coconut milk in the refrigerator. I’m glad I did too- I don’t think this would have been as good without the coconut milk!

A friend had a ton of leftover squash for her CSA so of course I had to make soup! Wanted something vegan to avoid the cheese, butter, and cream that other recipes called for. I doubled the recipe, left out the potato, and added fresh lime because I love citrus flavors – everything turned out perfectly. Thanks for the fantastic and easy recipe!

This looks amazing! When picking plants at the greenhouse this year, I meant to get two zucchini and two summer squash, but I accidentally got three summer squash and only one zucchini. I am SWIMMING in summer squash! So this recipe couldn’t come at a better time.

I made one batch last night to try it. Tonight I made three more batches! I’ve never liked squash soup (was making it for others), but I just ate two bowls! For anyone trying this for the first tiime, I would point out that the cumin taste is very strong. I find that delicious, but if you’re not a big cumin fan, consider cutting it back to quarter teaspoon. Otherwise, follow the recipe exactly. Easy to make, delicious to eat, and beautiful to present!

My squash plants from the garden are overflowing, so this recipe initially grabbed my attention. However, I’m on the whole30 and can’t do the white wine in the recipe. Would it be possible to just add more vegetable broth in the wine’s place? Do you think that will drastically change the flavor?

Made it with the curry powder as I didn’t have several of the spices, and omitted the wine (which I also didn’t have). It was very good! My husband was a little reluctant at first, but polished off a big bowl no problem. 🙂 I think next time I’d like to try it with the main spice combination listed instead of the curry powder as we do truly like cumin and I think the cinnamon would be a nice addition. This one earned a spot in my recipe binder! 🙂 Thank you for sharing it!

I made this soup but I was fairly disappointed. 12 minutes is not long enough for the spices to meld so they still tasted harsh. Also, the mustard powder was overpowering. I had to modify the recipe by cooking it for an extra 20 minutes and added cayenne to cover up the strange spice mix.